We just had a super Saturday in recruiting. James landed three commits for 2014 with high three-star running back Dallas Rivers of Stone Mountain, Georgia, solid three-star safety Emmanuel Smith from Murfreesboro, Tn and solid three star corner/safety Bryce Lewis of Liliburn, Ga all committing to play for us in 2014.

Watched film of Dallas and loved him. 247 has him as a highly ranked three-star, but after watching his film, Dallas is a no doubt four-star. I don’t know why those guys rate Dallas any lower than four. He is fast, very strong, breaks tackles, took it the distance on about every attempt I saw him run, he’s just a fantastic running back. Awesome addition to class. We need running backs in this class. It would be nice to add a couple more and at least one, but Dallas is an exceptional start. Excellent, excellent football player. Didn’t see any film on Bryce or Emmanuel, but saw an interview with Emmanuel and really liked him. Also in the interview was a teammate, an outside linebacker from Murfreesboro for the class of 2015, Josh Smith, who sounded like a great kid as well. Josh is somebody to look out for in the future.

Really pleased with this latest group. They join four-star quarterback K.J. Carta-Samuels and high three-star defensive tackle Jay Robertson in our ’14 class. Welcome aboard guys. Let’s go win championships.

Baseball took two of three from Florida over the weekend. Friday night was a tough night for Zo. Just couldn’t find the strike zone and gave up a three-run homer as we lost 7-1 to them, but Saturday we came back and pounded out 15 hits in a 6-1 victory. Connor had three hits, Conrad had three hits and two rbi’s and Vince Conde had two hits and drove in a run. Yesterday we scratched out a 5-4 win. John Norwood and Yaz with some tremendous hustle on the basepaths as John beat out an infield single to fairly deep short and Yaz scored from second on the grounder to clinch the victory. John did a head first slide to beat the throw at first with two outs, and Yaz just flew around third and barreled into home head first to beat the throw. It was awesome. Pitched decent. Tyler Beede moved his record to 6-0 with the win Saturday Night going 6.1 innings giving up two hits and no runs with four K’s and five walks. Tyler needs to get the base on balls down. He’s struggled a little bit with that this year. If he can, he will dominate. Steven Rice came in out of the bullpen Saturday Night and gave up one run in two innings. Steven pitching a lot better; throwing more strikes. Brian Miller was his typical stellar self yesterday going two innings and allowing no runs. I’ve noticed our bullpen is throwing more strikes now. They’ll get it going. Miller is awesome. Florida is a very young team, but as Corbs said yesterday, they remind me a lot of our team last year. They’re going to be very good by the end of the year. We moved to 21-4 overall and 5-1 in the East. We’re on top of the East, one game ahead of  Kentucky.

Brandt didn’t have a good tourney this weekend. Hope he can get it back together this weekend at Houston. Coming back after injury and playing in a big event like the Arnie is tough. Need Brandt to get back in form this week so he’ll be ready for Augusta. Luke is the first alternate so maybe he’ll get in too. Looks like Eldrick will win, thought it’s getting pretty interesting. Eldrick at -13 and Rickie Fowler at -11 through 15. Fowler playing well, so Eldrick could be in for a fight.

Bracket doing pretty well. My wife’s is doing awesome (i picked it but she’s just a winner). Would like for Ole Miss to have won last night. I’m in 2.7 mill and change place, tied basically with Obama in the 72.3 percentage. Have the Ville beating Miami in the championship. I figured out there are about 9 million players in the ESPN bracket. My wife is in the 98.6 percentile, she’s in 166,000th place. Pretty good stuff there. Got Miami beating Ohio State in hers.

Next year at this time,  I hope our team will be in the Sweet 16. Think we have the team to make a deep run in ’14. The whole team returns and we played so well in the tournament, just ran out of gas on Saturday against Ole Piss. They turned out to be a pretty good basketball team though. They should have beaten LaSalle last night. Henderson got hit on the arm before he put up a shot at the end, but the refs didn’t call it. Then LaSalle hit a layup. Ole Miss was a very nice offensive team, but was a little weak on defense. That cost them last night.

With Kede, Dai-Jon, Kyle, transfer Eric McClellan (who’s apparently awesome), the phenomenal Kevin Bright, Rod, Josh, Shelby, James Siakam (  James can be a player), A.J. Astroth (who looks potentially good) and four-star center Damian Jones coming in, we have the makings of an excellent basketball team. Very excited about next year. We should be special.

Football practice going very well. A lot of competition out there. Ready for Ole Miss on August 29 (Thursday) at 9:15 PM ET/8:15 CT on ESPN. Should be electric in the stadium. I know we’ve got a lot of work to do until then, but ready for it.

Baseball hosts Lipscomb tomorrow night at 6:30 CT, then UT comes in this weekend. They’re better, 3-3 in East, 13-10 overall. Looking to take care of business tomorrow night against Lipscomb, which has struggled, then sweep the Vols. Saturday Night’s game at 7 ET/6 CT will be on CSS.

Check with you later.

75-72 over Hogs. Kind of got a little edgy at the end, but Kede sank four-of-four from the line to close it out. Struggled from the line sinking 17-of-28 (57%). Rod had an off night converting only 3-of-11, but that was OK because Rod played a super game with 20 points and seven boards. Rod was five-of-nine from three. Kyle was awesome too. Took the team on his back in the first half and got us out to a comfortable lead. Kyle was sinking threes and driving and scoring at the rim. Kyle finished with 19. If you look at the other guy’s free throw numbers they were pretty good. Kyle was six-of-eight, Kede was four-of-five, K Bright was two-of-two and Dai-Jon and Josh were each one-of-two. Rod will work on it today. Rod and Kyle showed a ton of leadership last night. They took the team over and got us over the top in this game. Hung tough on the boards; Arkansas got 39, we got 37. If we can stay that close tonight, we’ve got a shot. Only had 12 turnovers which was huge.  Turned it over some late, but we really took care of the basketball for most of the game. And we sank 12-of-28 trifectas (43%). If we can do that tonight also, feel good about our chances. They shot 43 percent from the field but only sank four-of-16 from three. We played solid defense most of the night. Just loved Rod and Kyle’s leadership and awesome play. Really proud of them. Bodes well for tonight.

Tonight it’s UK at 7:30 ET/6:30 CT on the SEC Network. If we could win tonight, you never know. There could be some magic in this team in this tournament. I love the makeup of our team for next year, but I’m really also liking it right now. As Kevin said, we wouldn’t have won this kind of game in January or February. This was a huge boost to our confidence. Big Blue is talented, but we’ve played them tough both times. We lost 70-68 at home in a game in which there was a terrible missed call on a shot clock violation by Kentucky that was allowed. Nerlins Noel sank a shot after the shot clock expired but he was awarded the basket. It was at a pivotal time late in the game and probably kept us from winning that game. We lost 74-70 at Rupp, and played them very tough there also. So we’ve got a very good shot. We lost to them twice last year in the regular season and beat them in the tournament championship game. I really believe in that theory that it’s hard to beat a team three  times in a season if the talent is pretty even, and I think that’s the case this season. I like our chances. It’ll be tough, but I know we’ll be ready. Should be exciting.

Starters for this weekend’s series against Auburn are LHP Zo (4-0, 0.87) vs. Auburn LHP Daniel Koger (0-0, 2.42) 6 PM CT; RHP Tyler (4-0, 1.07) vs. AU LHP Michael O’Neal, 2:15 PM CT, Fox Sports South; and Sunday, at 1 PM CT, LHP Phillip Pfeifer (2-0, 1.32) vs. AU RHP Rocky McCord (2-0, 3.44).

Would be nice to get the season started with a sweep, but I know how Corbs and all three of our coaches approach it; one game at a time. Let’s just win tonight and go from there.

I’ve thought more about James’ comment, “Nicky Satan.” It was James being James. James admits openly that he’s emotional and passionate and those two qualities are his greatest strengths and his greatest weaknesses. I think for the most part they are his greatest strengths. I love James’ passion about his football team, his university and his family and his community. James is such a great, passionate guy and an awesome coach. On the Nicky Satan comment. I know James kind of wishes he had that back, but at the same time, he respects Coach Saban  as a football coach, but you know what, Saban’s a rival and we are not going to back down from anybody. Those days are over. That’s not happening any more with our football team or our university. We respect Saban, but if we play him and his football team, we are in it to win. So I’m OK with James being competitive towards a rival. That’s college football. That’s passion and emotion. And I love James’ passion. What’s not to like about our head football coach? Awesome football coach. Awesome person. Feel the same way about Corbs and Kevin. We have three fantastic coaches.

Our men’s golf team has some real potential. We have a new coach, Scott Limbaugh, who came from the University of Alabama and has brought passion and toughness to our team. Will have more on the golf team in the coming weeks. The future both this year and the coming years is very exciting. Women’s tennis is doing well too. Our girls bball team is waiting till Monday Night to see if we’ll get an NCAA  bid. We’ve got a pretty good shot. We’ve had a good season. Like the girls a lot.

Will keep you informed on what’s going on. Big one tonight at Bridgestone Arena. Can’t wait. Baseball should be fun this weekend too. Love the product Corbs is putting on the field. He’s awesome. We have incredibly good coaches.

And it’s a hard one, but Kevin’s one at a time approach is the only way we can look at this tournament. Have Arkansas tonight. They killed us at Bud Walton Arena in January, 56-33, then we got them at Memorial, 67-49.

Arkansas is 19-12 overall and have slim hopes of making the tournament. But everybody’s got a shot to win this tournament and automatically qualify for the NCAA’s, so that’s the way we’re approaching it and that’s the way Arkansas is approaching it. It’s kind of a wide open tourney, even though Florida won the regular season. Florida showed it’s vulnerable on the road.

Arkansas was 18-1 at home, but 1-9 on the road and 0-2 at neutral sites. They are led by the explosive B.J. Young, a guard who lit us up early in the second half at their place. Young is averaging 14 points per game. Marshawn Powell is a load in the middle, 6’8″, 255, and averages almost 14 a game and 5.3 rebounds. They’re a good rebounding team averaging 34.9 per game. We average 32.9. We need to win the battle on the glass to win this game.

Other key factors for us are controlling Arkansas’ chaotic defense both in the half court and the full court. We need to avoid a lot of  turnovers. We’ll have some, but we need to keep it in the single digits or about 10-11 to win this game. We can’t allow them to go on a big run or we’re in trouble. We need to make seven or eight threes and sink our free throws at a 70-75 percent clip if we get to the line much. We’re now at 63 percent. That number has climbed steadily in the past three weeks. Shooting it a lot better at the stripe.

Josh Henderson, Shelby Moats, and I hope, James Siakam are going to have to play strong for us down low. Kede, Kevin Bright, Dai-Jon, Kyle and Sheldon will have to sink shots, find the open man or be the open man and convert and get after their guards and small forwards on defense.

We can definitely get this done. It will take a very good effort, but we’ll be in Nashville, and even though it’s not at Memorial–it’s at the Bridgestone Arena downtown–we’re playing in our home town which helps. Should be a fun one. 7:30 PM ET/6:30 CT on the SEC Network.

Baseball at Auburn this weekend. Exciting to start the SEC season. We’re now 16-2 after taking two of three from Oregon on the road and taking care of business against Buffalo yesterday at home, 4-2. Zo will pitch Friday in a 6 PM CT start. Tyler Beede will be on the hill Saturday with a 2:15 PM CT first pitch which will be televised by Fox Sports South. Phillip Pfeifer will take the mound on Sunday with a 1 PM CT start. Kevin Ziomek (Zo, Friday starter) is 4-0 with a 0.87 ERA and 46 K’s in 31 innings. He’s walked only seven. Zo is dominant. Second baseman Tony Kemp is on fire hitting .438 now. He has four doubles and three triples and now has 18 triples in his three-year career. He had a two-run triple yesterday. Got everything we need to go to Omaha and win there. We’re getting back to being healthy. Catcher Spence Navin sprained his ankle last Sunday against Oregon, but Corbs is hoping he’ll be back for this series. Chris Harvey has been catching in his place. Harvey getting better and better on defense and his hitting is potentially awesome; both for average and power. We’re going to like Harvey in the future. May need to catch some this weekend. Probably will. T.J. Pecoraro coming along from his hamstring injury. Hopefully, Pec will be back for Florida next weekend. May be a couple of weeks though. Some other guys are getting healthy which is always good. Almost swept No.15 Oregon last week. Had a 5-2 lead going into the bottom of the eighth, but couldn’t hold it. Still like our bullpen. They’ll get it going. Brian Miller is a stud as our closer. Brian is 2-0 with an 0.57 ERA and four saves. He has 13 K’s in 15.2 innings. He’s going to be a workhorse for us this season. Stephen Rice, Jared Miller and guys like Carson Fulmer and Tyler Ferguson have a chance to be excellent. Adam Ravanelle is coming back from injury, and Corbs is high on Adam out of the pen. I believe Adam comes out of the pen. So he’ll help too. Msy be a week-dsy starter too. Our team ERA is 1.96. That’ll win you a lot of games. Like the makeup of this team like I’ve written earlier. Good shot at going deep this year. Very deep. Need to be lucky on injuries. If we are, this year’s teams’ chances are very good to be in Omaha and win the national championship.

Looked at film on next year’s commits: d tackle Jay Robertson and qb K.J. Carta-Samuels. Loved them both. Jay buries people at the line of scrimmage. He’s quick off the ball and very, very physical. K.J. has awesome accuracy and a strong arm. Excellent mobility too, and I can’t get over how good of a passer he is. He’s special as is Jay. Jay a high three-star by 247 and not rated by Rivals, but could very well be a four-star if he keeps this up. Won the state heavyweight wrestling championship and that’s always a sign. Terrific athlete and looks to be very tough. Just need to keep reeling these ’14 guys in.

James spoke with the media on Monday and you can tell he’s excited about this football team. Austyn Carta-Samuels will most likely be our qb and we’re going to like Austyn a lot. He started his freshman year at Wyoming and was Mountain West freshman of the year four years ago. Austyn played a game for us last year and did a nice job. Austyn has a chance to be outstanding. Wide receiver will be awesome with JMatt and Chris Boyd as our leaders.They are fantastic players. We now have 15 scholarship offensive linemen with size and talent. James expects us to be 300 across the front this year. Wes Tate, Brian Kimbrow, Jerron Seymour and Derek King will be our running backs. Freshman Raphael Webb may get redshirted, but looks like a Zac Stacy type to me. Need to land a couple of rbs in recruiting. Expect some big things out of Wes Tate and the other guys this year. James said that tight end should be much better this year with jc transfer Brandon Vandenburg possibly taking over. We’ve got pretty good depth there. Vandenberg is 6’6″, 260.

Defense will be a little bit thin at  d tackle, but we’ll be good there with the guys we have. Jared Morse has been suspended from the team and school. He may come back in the fall. That remains to be seen. Guys like Vince Taylor and Barron Dixon will need to step up in the interior. Pretty good at d end though with the hard-working, physical Walker May as our leader. The coaches are expecting huge things from Caleb Azubike. Could be a beast on the end. Caleb is now 6’5″, 255. He’s going to be awesome. Linebacker is deep with a lot of young guys who are very talented. Chase Garnham, an excellent player in the middle and a senior, will be our leader there. Secondary will be anchored by safeties Kenny Ladller and Javon Marshall and corner Andre Hal. Love those guys and there is a lot of talent back there.

Kicking game will be good with Carey Spear. We lost Richard Kent, our stellar punter, so we’ll need to replace him.

Play all the east teams; South Carolina, Florida and UT are on the road. Georgia, Mizzou and Ky are at home. Two west opponents are Ole Miss (as usual) and A&M. We open with Ole Miss Thursday, Aug. 29th, @9:15 PM ET/ 8:15 CT on ESPN. Huge opener. Toughest games are @ SC, @Florida and @A&M. Expecting eight wins or better. That is where this program is right now, and it is ascending each and every day. Spring practice begins tomorrow. The spring game is Saturday, April 13, @ 1PM CT.

Brandt will get back on the tour next week at Bay Hill for the Arnie Invitational. Will be good to get him back. He’s been working hard on his short game while recovering from rib problems. He broke his rib last year, so he has to be smart about it. Will be hitting balls for real on Sunday according to his coach, Todd Anderson. Anderson said Brandt will be going full force beginning Sunday. Luke at +2 today through 16 at the Tampa Bay Championship. Leaders at -3. Luke eeds to finish strong and have a good round tomorrow.

Will have bball review, hopefully with a good result, and pitching matchups tomorrow on blog.

Kevin Ziomek dominated the Oregon Ducks last night with a two-hit, one run, one walk and 13 K performance as #2 VU moved to 14-1 with a 4-1 victory.
Zo is now 4-0 on the season an 0.87 ERA. In 31 innings of work, Zo has given up three runs, walked seven and struck out 46. Wow, that’s pretty awesome stuff.

Tony Kemp had two hits and two RBIs including a two-run triple. Clean game, no errors.

Today Tyler Beede takes the mound vs. Oregon’s Tommy Thorpe. Tyler is 3-0 with a 1.45 ERA with nine walks and 20 Ks in 18.2 innings. Thorpe, a lefty, is 2-1 with a 3.12 ERA. Tomorrow Phillip Pfeifer (2-0, 0.45) goes against LHP Cole Irvin (3-0, 2.05).

Today’s first pitch is at 4 PM CT. Tomorrow’s game starts at 2 PM CT.